Wednesday 4 July 2018

Dragon of the East

Hi all

He tried to tempt me at Salute 2017, he did it again at PAW 2018. Finally at Salute 2018, I succumbed...

I literally could not deny the desire to own at least one of Dave Stone's magnificent dragon models! Honestly I have tried and tried and tried not to buy one as they are an investment of funds, time and effort but hell, I'm only human - I ended up mostly trying to stop buying more than one!!

To be honest it was a straight toss up between his brand new Wyvern which had just been freshly painted and this bad boy....

Oriental Dragon pic taken from Dave's website here

In the end I had to go with the Oriental Dragon, I'd wanted him for so long and even the gorgeous Wyvern model couldn't compete, so I dutifully dug out the £50 from my sorely pressed wallet and handed it to Dave's grinning daughter, who knew she had me beat....

fast forward to this month and in an effort to boost my flagging mojo I decided to build and paint this beauty, knowing that it would make me very happy indeed....and it has.


This beaut of a model is made of hard resin and is massive (I haven't measured it, but have placed it next to some 32mm samurai later).  Really neat casting and only need some minor filling around the joints, which I did with a little bit of Das.  My only complaint, and it is my only complaint is that the brittle nature of the resin meant that I snapped one of the critters moustaches within the first 5 mins.  That was the only mishap and took a few tries at supergluing it back on to finally sort...



I used a grey primer to spray on as a base. I like using this primer as A) it's really cheap, B) it sticks fantastically to any surface son no need to pop your expensive mini into a bubble bath and C) the grey is a really neutral colour so I can go light or dark on it (plus I find coloured primers too confusing...).

After much research (ten minutes on Google) regarding colour schemes, I decided to do a bit of a mishmash of the boxed art colours i.e. I did what Dave did... and a flaming mane of hair, using my fire technique - more on that in a couple of weeks.


I mostly used Vallejo paints and GW washes to paint the beastie.  Below at all the base colours - Joe, take note of the sandstone rocks - no grey for me!!


The highly detailed scaling and features gave me the opportunity to really build up the paint layers, due to the size of the "mini" (ha!) I did this with successive dry brushes and then a final detailed highlight.



I even took the time to practice with some OSL, a technique I'm yet to truly get to grips with...


I love the pose of the model which goes against the traditional coiled viper look of eastern dragon artwork and instead concentrates on the "launching into flight" look - neck stretched and powerful legs pushing off from the earth.


The detail is fabulous, each scale sculpted rather than textured on...



I tried to take some pics with the flash on to show you the layers...








and finally some scaling - yup those are 32mm Bushido minis...




What a BEAST!!

I really enjoyed painting this but now I'm going to have to avoid Dave's stands at the next few shows, else I'll get that bloody Wyvern and then the sea dragon, then the fire breathing beastie...

hope you enjoy
dGG

26 comments:

  1. Awesome post, Andy - I seem to say that a lot on this site. I’ve still got my dragon safely stored away, but this posting illustrates just what a tip-top sculpt it is. One of Dave’s best and a marvellous paint-job by yourself too!!

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    1. It’s such a terrific model Simon, it deserved my best efforts

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  2. Most impressive beast, great job!

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  3. Sorry to hear you had problems with the moustache Andy, I was only thinking yesterday I really need to email Andy and see if he's found time to work on this yet ! LOL
    Your colour choices work really well, and for a first go on OSL turned out really well. If you come to my stall I'll instruct all the crew to stand infront of the dragons for you, especially next Salute when there will be a new one !

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    1. Yeah, it was my fault Dave, he was packed very safely but I was a bit careless when it came to the handling. He looks so good, that I do want another....

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  4. Wow! Just wow! There's not much more to say, is there? An awesome model and your paint job has really brought it to life.

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    1. Cheers muchly Bryan, it’s so good a model, it really does deserve as much effort as I can put into it.

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  5. He is a beast and really nicely painted.

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  6. It's interesting the difference the flash makes. Without it then it looks a fairly ordinary paint job on a quite extraordinary sculpt, but with the flash it shows your fabulous painting in its full glory.
    This is quite an amazing blend of model and paint. Well done to you both.

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    1. Thank you John, I’m glad that it showed well eventually... 😉

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  7. I'm with vagabond re the flash - it truly shows the great colour combo you went for and shows off your painting skills superbly. I wasn;t sure I liked the pose, but by the final photo I was convinced it was an excellent choice. (Am I right that Oriental Dragons "Walk on Air" rather than fly? - if so even better pose!)
    [On a different note can O say I now have one covert to non-grey rocks ? If so only about a million to go, then on to eyes!]

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    1. Yes you are right Joe, Chinese dragons (and subsequently Japanese) walked rather than flew in the skies as they were all wingless. I thought Dave’s pose was spot on and really lent character to the sculpt

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  8. Awesome job on a "beast" of a monster!
    Ditto the comments about the flash photography - it really does showcase your brushwork buddy :-)

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    1. It was definitely worth the flash going on as the light was all over the shop

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  9. Oh my word! What a beastie and what a fabulous paint job too Andy.

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  10. I am not a dragon fan. I shall be the first to say such. However I cannot help but enjoy this one. Dave does some great stuff and is a nice person as well. Well dome this dragon looks very good indeed.

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    1. Yes Dave does some brilliant work and is a lovely person - if not a little devil for his fiendishly tempting models

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  11. It's an impressive model and very reasonably priced regarding the size. Lovely paintwork, Mr Nash. As I've already got a cheap Oriental dragon, I can't justify the purchase - slthough I think it would be a showpiece rather than a gaming miniature.

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    1. Most definitely a showpiece and will take pride of place in da Grotto

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  12. Absolutely amazing Andy! That is a great looking model and brilliant brushwork there mate :)

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